Several years ago the Board of Trustees of Disciples of Christ Historical Society looked toward 2009 and realized that we did not want to miss the opportunity to mark the bicentennial of Thomas Campbell’s “Declaration and Address.” While there are other events and documents that we have also remembered, everyone agreed that this 1809 document truly formed the constitution for our movement.

Its thesis is “the church of Christ upon earth is essentially, intentionally, and constitutionally one.” It is the clarion call for unity that has been the hallmark of the Stone-Campbell movement.

Dr. Douglas Foster of Abilene Christian University was serving on the Historical Society’s Board in 2005 and agreed to chair a task force to plan a celebration. Eventually, sixteen persons representing the three streams of the movement were called upon to form this task force.

That is what this website is all about.

One of the things we immediately remembered was the gathering in October 1909 in Pittsburgh for a “Great Communion” to celebrate the centennial of the movement. That, we believed, was worthy of imitation.

So, this led to our decision to call upon congregations everywhere to celebrate World Communion Sunday, October 4, 2009 in a special way. This, we thought, was the perfect opportunity to remember Thomas Campbell and his contribution, as well as live out the unity that we all hold so dear.

Our sincere hope is that congregations of all three streams will gather together in communities all across the globe on that special Sunday and share communion together.

To that end, we have provided a number of resources on this website to aid in the planning and accomplishment of a celebratory communion service.

Our prayer is that this on this one day, with communion being shared by Stone-Campbell believers all around the world, that a true beginning will be found to complete Christ’s desire for all humanity: May they all be one.

Great Communion is sponsored by Disciples of Christ Historical Society. To learn more about their mission, visit www.DisciplesHistory.org